Latest news with #PitchCom
USA Today
8 hours ago
- General
- USA Today
Benches cleared before Angels-Red Sox after heated argument during batting practice
Benches cleared before Angels-Red Sox after heated argument during batting practice Over the course of an MLB season, it's not uncommon to see several bench-clearing incidents. Those just almost always take place during the games. On Wednesday, we got to find out what a pregame bench-clearing incident looked like. And fittingly, it featured an iced matcha latte. As the Angels and Red Sox were warming up during batting practice at Fenway Park, NESN cameras caught a heated argument between Angels pitcher Tyler Anderson and Red Sox first base coach Jose Flores. The two exchanged words for a few seconds and tossed some F-bombs back and forth. When the altercation seemed to be winding down, Angels pitching coach Barry Enright joined in to stand up for his guy and got back into Flores' face. Players from both teams convened to separate the two. It didn't come anywhere close to a brawl as players really just joined in out of curiosity. Like, what possibly could have happened before a game to set Anderson off like that? One reporter speculated that it had to do with possible sign stealing from Monday night, but Anderson does typically use PitchCom. The best part, though, was when Red Sox manager Alex Cora talked through the situation with Anderson while sipping on a matcha. Absolute scenes.
Fox News
7 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Youth baseball gets MLB technology upgrade as Perfect Game partners with PitchCom
Print Close By Ryan Canfield Published May 29, 2025 PitchCom was introduced to MLB at the beginning of the 2022 season, and the communication system has quickly become prominent in the baseball world, overhauling pitcher-catcher communication. Perfect Game, a youth baseball company that promotes baseball by hosting high-quality amateur events and providing exposure for players to play at higher levels, is the first organization of its kind to partner with PitchCom, Fox News Digital exclusively learned Thursday. PitchCom emerged after the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal during their World Series run in 2017 rocked the baseball world. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON John Hankins, co-investor and co-owner of PitchCom, saw that MLB had a need for a communication device that could prevent sign stealing. The challenge was the device couldn't be vocal, and MLB officials didn't want players to wear a communication device on their bodies. Hankins came up with PitchCom, which allows a catcher to press a button on a transmitter to call pitches. The transmitter sends prerecorded audio clips to the receivers, who in turn will hear the pitch call and defensive signals. The pitcher and fielders wear the receiver in their hats and can hear what the catcher inputs, allowing for clear and secure communication safe from being stolen, unlike traditional catcher signs. When Major League Baseball first heard of it, it loved the idea. TIGERS' TARIK SKUBAL PITCHES INCREDIBLE GAME IN WIN OVER GUARDIANS: 'SKY IS THE LIMIT' "(We had) a meeting before a playoff game. The immediate response was this solves all of our problems," Hankins told Fox News Digital. "That was nice, and we left the meeting feeling pretty good. But, within about an hour, we got another phone call that said, 'Can you meet with 20 of our executives on Zoom tomorrow. That was a positive sign." After that meeting, Major League Baseball became PitchCom's first client. Jered Goodwin, the vice president of scouting operations at Perfect Game, trains with MLB players during the offseason. Goodwin told Fox News Digital the players had "a ton of positive feedback" about PitchCom. "I can tell you from a guy that gets to coach some pitchers during the offseason, they love being on a level playing field," Goodwin said. "They're throwing a pitch without anybody on the field being able to know what's coming (prior to PitchCom), and there's been open conversations about that. There hasn't been a lot of negative feedback. You get some transmitters you got to replace, but it takes a really short amount of time. And I think really everybody in baseball, players to owners and especially fans, have loved the pace of play and the shorter games." "Obviously, some other rules were put into effect as well, but the direct communication in the short amount of time it takes has definitely been a ton of positive feedback." ROCKIES FAN FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST MLB TEAM, CLAIMS TO HAVE SUFFERED INJURIES DUE TO CLUB'S LACKLUSTER OUTPUT Goodwin said he first thought of trying to bring PitchCom to Perfect Game when MLB began using it. He called it an "easy decision" to bring PitchCom into youth baseball and to form a partnership. "I knew very early on that this was going to be something that was going to stick, so as it's grown into major college baseball, to MLB, it's great that we got to have a direct path for our players and our coaches to be able to learn operationally, intensely during a game. Anything like that of what they are going to use directly at the next level. So, it really was on the agenda as soon as it could be scaled," Goodwin said. Jon Updike, vice president of customer relations at PitchCom, said the device offers youth players benefits beyond just pitcher-catcher communication. "It's just not calling the pitches," Updike said. "It's the ability to send in maybe technical cues, but even more so than that, 'Hey, great job' or 'You're going to get them next time.' "You are able to send in some psychological messages to them as well that will help either uplift them or snap them into place, which is a lot easier when it's being whispered to an 8-year-old or a 12-year-old or 14-year-old's ear than being yelled across the field." Goodwin said the introduction of PitchCom into Perfect Game will allow for more development among kids. "Being able to talk through, especially with direct communication, being able to talk directly about why you called a pitch, how you were calling a pitch, being able to go over what those different reasons were, because you've got just an extra second to be able to do it. When you can speed up the game but also slow down the process, some real development of the 'why?' can happen," Goodwin said. SHOHEI OHTANI'S FIRST TIME PITCHING TO HITTERS AS A DODGER IS A SUCCESS: 'HE'S A TOP-END STARTER' "I think you are going to see some things come out directly related to PitchCom helping with development. Whether it's pitch calling, whether it's the speed of the game, whether it's location that (is) really going to help the youth be able to understand how they are trying to attack, why they are trying to attack, why this in that situation or that pitch in this situation and that's one of the things that nobody is really dove into yet. "But at Perfect Game we are constantly trying to find different ways to develop, and I think this is going to be a real asset to young ballplayers." Not only does Goodwin believe PitchCom will help players' development. It should also change the way coaches teach and communicate in games. "It speeds up the time, but it also slows down what's going on. Reaffirm some of the things that you might have gone over in practice. So, I think it's such a huge advantage when these young athletes are going to be able to have that sense of pace, but also a sense of communication and development at a younger age," Goodwin said. Updike said the introduction of PitchCom at the youth baseball level will make for cleaner games because of the enhanced communication the device allows. "I see it has an opportunity to reduce pitches, which will directly, in turn, have a chance of reducing over usage and injury," Updike said. "Just from having better information or paying attention to it. And then, on top of that, it makes it a cleaner baseball game. Less wild pitches, less cross-ups and more quality executed pitches." The voice that comes through the transmitter is an AI-generated voice, but Updike said the voice can be "anybody's voice." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "It's a simple, easy, clean process. And then what we found is that some of our colleges and some of our major league clubs would run the tracks through an AI voice generator to create something else. Whether it was a star or a famous voice and then put it on, sometimes even recording other players, it's kind of like your limitation is your imagination with it," Updike said. Updike said he heard one pitcher in college baseball customize the voice to be his favorite musician. "I won't give up the secret sauce for a few clubs, but like we have a college, a really good NCAA team, their Friday night guy is a real good pitcher, and he's got a musician that he loves, or a rapper, and it's that rappers' voice every time they call a pitch. So, it's unique to see how creative everybody's been with the product," Updike said. Goodwin said he heard a story about how a coach programmed the voice to be a player's mother's voice, and that it provided good results for the player. "The guy had a really close relationship with his mom, and the coaches wanted to see if that in turn would kind of be a calming presence. So I thought that was pretty cool, pretty interesting. Obviously, a lot going on with sports psychology now and things like that. So, I think there are a lot of things that you can do here even from voice recognition to maybe help kids, and maybe not," Goodwin said. "I do know that in the early stages of this the kid actually did very well when it happened." The PitchCom's will be given out to Perfect Game in August, and coaches and players will be able to use them for the All-American Classic and PG Select Festivals. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter. Print Close URL
USA Today
18-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Shohei Ohtani hilariously tried to stay at second despite Kenley Jansen's intentional balk
Shohei Ohtani hilariously tried to stay at second despite Kenley Jansen's intentional balk Back before PitchCom became a popular resource for pitchers and catchers to call pitches, you'd see relief pitchers intentionally commit balks to move a base runner off of second base. It was all about preventing sign stealing. Well, Kenley Jansen tried to keep that strategy alive on Saturday — even if Shohei Ohtani basically said, "Nah, I'm good here." With the Angels up two runs on the Dodgers in the ninth inning and Mookie Betts stepping to the plate with Ohtani on second, Jansen intentionally committed a balk to move Ohtani to third. But Jansen was almost confused as to why Ohtani and the umpires ignored the blatant balk initially. He had to tell the umpires and Ohtani that he was balking, and Ohtani hilariously tried stay put at second. It took home plate umpire Alex Tosi pointing Ohtani to go to third for the Dodgers star to actually comply. Before PitchCom, teams didn't want to give opponents an opportunity to communicate the catcher's signs to the hitter from second base. But even with PitchCom, there are ways to signal the catcher's location to the hitter. So, pitchers would rather clear that bag at second and focus on the hitter. That's exactly why Jansen broke out the balk, via 'I definitely wanted the intentional balk there,' Jansen said. 'With Mookie hitting, Shohei at second, I thought it was best for him to be at third. I didn't want him seeing any of the locations where Logan is sitting. So that was definitely the plan there.' If only Ohtani was allowed to take a page out of the NFL and decline the balk ... which is, uh, not a thing in MLB. The strategy worked as Betts lined out to end the game.
New York Post
18-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Carlos Beltran knows about booing Juan Soto is dealing with
Carlos Beltran has been there before. On July 28, 2005, he returned to Houston for the first time after leaving the Astros as a free agent for the Mets. He was booed relentlessly by Astros fans, both at the plate and when he was in center. Afterward, he said, 'It's hard to block out the boos. It's hard to block out all that.' So Beltran, now a special assistant to Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, has an idea of what Juan Soto is going through this weekend in his return to The Bronx with the Mets. 'No one wants to be booed,' Beltran told The Post before Saturday's 3-2 Mets win. 'But this was expected. This is a guy that last year did an incredible job for the Yankees. He was an asset for the organization. As a free agent, he signed with the Mets. I feel he was even expecting it himself.' Beltran likened it to his experience in his first year with the Mets after he spent less than a year with the Astros following his 2004 trade from Kansas City. But Beltran dominated the postseason with the Astros, who then saw him go to Queens. Juan Soto reacts after grounding into a fielder's choice in the ninth inning of the Mets' 3-2 Subway Series win over the Yankees on May 17, 2025. Jason Szenes / New York Post 'When I went back to Houston that first time, I never heard a player being booed the way I was booed,'' Beltran said Saturday with a laugh. 'But you have to go with the ride and try not to let that affect your performance or preparation. Sometimes you can get caught up in trying to do too much. I think Soto did a great job [Friday].' Beltran noted how Soto 'saluted the fans' with his sarcastic tipping of his helmet when nearly the entire stadium stood and booed. CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND METS STATS 'That was great,'' Beltran said. 'It is part of baseball and you've got to deal with it.' Though the fans have been loud and relentless, they've been relatively well-behaved. 'No one was disrespectful,'' Beltran said. 'It's what being a fan is about: expressing home field and giving your team an advantage. I don't think it's personal.' Carlos Beltran, now a special assistant to Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, said he knows Juan Soto is feeling by being vociferously booed by a team he left. Corey Sipkin for New York Post Beltran said Reggie Jackson repeated his famous comment, 'They don't boo [nobodies],' to him. 'He told me to take it as a good thing,' Beltran said. Soto seems to have a similar attitude. He ended up walking three times in the Mets' loss Friday. 'He had good at-bats,'' Beltran said. 'That can be hard if you let it bother you.' It was more of the same Saturday, as Soto walked, singled and scored a run. On Saturday, there were more Mets fans in attendance than Friday, but the boos were still noisy enough that Clarke Schmidt said he had to turn up the volume on his PitchCom. Schmidt called the fans' reaction 'to be expected.'' 'He was a lot of fun to play with, but given the circumstances, you were expecting a boo there,'' the right-hander said.
San Francisco Chronicle
17-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Mets' Pete Alonso thinks ahead to possible Subway Series against Yankees, saying `It'd be sick'
NEW YORK (AP) — After listening to Yankees fans rail at Juan Soto for two days, New York Mets star Pete Alonso thought about the possibility of a Subway Series this October. 'It'd be electric," he said following the Mets' 3-2 win Saturday. 'Any chance we can avoid the Van Wyck, that'd be great.' Alonso would love the chance to play an environmentally friendly World Series entirely in New York and avoid the perpetually congested expressway leading to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Subway Series spark memories of Don Larsen's perfect game, clutch catches by Al Gionfriddo and Sandy Amoros, and David Cone coming out of the bullpen to retire Mike Piazza. With the Mets and Yankees leading their divisions a quarter of the way through the regular season, there's a chance of the first Subway Series since 2000 but a long way to go. Even for a regular-season meeting on a Saturday afternoon, the sellout crowd of 47,510 at Yankee Stadium was amped up — especially when booing Soto, who helped the Yankees reach the World Series last year and then bolted across town for a record $765 million, 15-year contract with the Mets. 'Typically I do a pretty good job of blocking the noise out,' Yankees pitcher Clarke Schmidt said. 'There was a time where he was up I had to turn up the PitchCom because it was tough to hear.' Winners of a record 27 titles but none since 2009, the Yankees lead the AL East at 26-19. The Mets, boosted by hedge fund owner Steve Cohen's fortune, top the NL East at 29-17 as they seek their third championship and first since 1986. Last year, the Mets lost in the National League Championship Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Yankees in the World Series. While there were 13 Subway Series from 1921-56 — six between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers and seven between Yankees and New York Giants — there has been only one since. 'It'd be sick,' Alonso said. 'That'd be probably the best postseason matchup ever because you don't have to go on the road. You have seven home games. ... You don't have to worry about dealing with all the great wall of traffic out of JFK.' A day after the Yankees won the opener of six regular-season meetings 6-2, Francisco Lindor's ninth-inning sacrifice fly off Fernando Cruz broke a 2-all tie and Edwin Díaz ended the game by getting Aaron Judge to swing over a 98.6 mph full-count fastball. A runner on each team was thrown at the plate, and an umpire interference call on himself by James Jean negated a Yankees double steal. 'That's what you call a big league game, big league matchup. Every pitch was intense, every play," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'That's what you pay for, to come and watch a big league game when you got two teams with a lot of superstars.' Soto went 1 for 4 with a walk and is 1 for 6 with four walks in his first two games back in the Bronx, booed noisily each time he walked to the plate or touched the ball defensively. He threw some shade two pitches into his first at-bat Saturday — he tossed his mirrored sunglasses on a perfect spring afternoon, deciding he'd see better without them. Soto tipped his helmet to the crowd before his first plate appearance Friday and provided another moment of levity in the fifth inning Saturday when he shook a 'no' to Schmidt after the pitcher started to the dugout following a 2-2 knuckle-curve at the low, outside corner. Jean called ball three, and Soto wound up walking. 'I thought out of the hand it was a ball and it was a ball,' Schmidt said. Consistent throughout the season, the Mets are the only team that hasn't had a three-game losing streak. And while players and staff are focused on the next game, fans have the luxury to dream ahead to a 15th Subway Series. 'I'm sure,' Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, 'it would be pretty cool.'
